SSL Error: CERT_UNTRUSTED while using npm command

Question

I am trying to install express framework using npm command but getting following error.

error message is

E:\myFindings\nodejs_programs\node>npm install -g express
npm http GET https://registry.npmjs.org/express
npm ERR! Error: SSL Error: CERT_UNTRUSTED
npm ERR!     at ClientRequest.<anonymous> (C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\node_modules\request\main.js:409:26)
npm ERR!     at ClientRequest.g (events.js:185:14)
npm ERR!     at ClientRequest.EventEmitter.emit (events.js:88:17)
npm ERR!     at HTTPParser.parserOnIncomingClient [as onIncoming] (http.js:1445:7)
npm ERR!     at HTTPParser.parserOnHeadersComplete [as onHeadersComplete] (http.js:111:23)
npm ERR!     at CleartextStream.socketOnData [as ondata] (http.js:1356:20)
npm ERR!     at CleartextStream.CryptoStream._push (tls.js:396:27)
npm ERR!     at SecurePair.cycle (tls.js:751:20)
npm ERR!     at EncryptedStream.CryptoStream.write (tls.js:131:13)
npm ERR!     at Socket.ondata (stream.js:38:26)
npm ERR!  [Error: SSL Error: CERT_UNTRUSTED]
npm ERR! You may report this log at:
npm ERR!     <http://github.com/isaacs/npm/issues>
npm ERR! or email it to:
npm ERR!     <[email protected]>

npm ERR! System Windows_NT 6.1.7601
npm ERR! command "C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\\\node.exe" "C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node_modules\\npm\\bin\\npm-cli.js" "install" "-g" "express"
npm ERR! cwd E:\myFindings\nodejs_programs\node
npm ERR! node -v v0.8.0
npm ERR! npm -v 1.1.32
npm ERR! message SSL Error: CERT_UNTRUSTED
npm ERR!
npm ERR! Additional logging details can be found in:
npm ERR!     E:\myFindings\nodejs_programs\node\npm-debug.log
npm ERR! not ok code 0

help me to sort out

Answer 1

You can bypass https using below commands:

npm config set strict-ssl false

or set the registry URL from https or http like below:

npm config set registry="http://registry.npmjs.org/"

However, Personally I believe bypassing https is not the real solution, but we can use it as a workaround.

Answer 2

npm ERR! node -v v0.8.0
npm ERR! npm -v 1.1.32

Update your node.js installation.The following commands should do it (from here):

sudo npm cache clean -f
sudo npm install -g n
sudo n stable

---

Edit: okay, if you really have a good reason to run an ancient version of the software, npm set ca null will fix the issue. It happened, because built-in npm certificate has expired over the years.

Answer 3

I had same problem and finally I understood that my node version is old. For example, you can install the current active LTS node version in Ubuntu by the following steps:

sudo apt-get update
curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_10.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt-get install nodejs -y

Installation instructions for more versions and systems can be found in the following link:

https://github.com/nodesource/distributions/blob/master/README.md

Answer 4

I think I got the reason for the above error. It is the corporate proxy(virtual private network) provided in order to work in the client network. Without that connection I frequently faced the same problem be it maven build or npm install.

Answer 5

If you're behind a corporate proxy, try this setting for npm with your company's proxy:

npm --https-proxy=http://proxy.company.com install express -g

Answer 6

Since i stumbled on the post via google:

Try using npm ci it will be much than an npm install.

From the manual:

In short, the main differences between using npm install and npm ci are:

• The project must have an existing package-lock.json or npm-shrinkwrap.json.
• If dependencies in the package lock do not match those in package.json, npm ci will exit with an error, instead of updating the package lock.
• npm ci can only install entire projects at a time: individual dependencies cannot be added with this command.
• If a node_modules is already present, it will be automatically removed before npm ci begins its install.
• It will never write to package.json or any of the package-locks: installs are essentially frozen.

Answer 7

Reinstall node, then update npm.

First I removed node

apt-get purge node

Then install node according to the distibution. Docs here .

Then

npm install npm@latest -g